One Vs Two Story Houses

[sunholidaysun1]

Smear garlic on your ankles, they hate garlic. I dont need to smear it on , my blood is full of garlic, I very rarely get bitten.

[BuckarooBanzai]

I built a two story with 1 BR down and 3 up. It is a post and beam brick house and I have found that the second story concrete floor acts as a tremendous cooling factor for the downstairs. Almost like living under ground.

Although the upstairs heats up during the day it does not take too long to cool off after sundown assuming the temperature drops as well. If it stays hot everything stays hot.

I am surprised I have only noticed mosquitoes being mentioned in other posts as their are about 1 million other bugs and lizards hanging around the upper (and lower) stories especially at night with lights on so I generally use the aircon while watching TV or sleeping. The stink bugs (what ever they are) when in season are particularly offensive. I live near a large body of water which may be the reason for the number of bugs.

Aluminum windows leak like sieves allowing free passage for the geckos and air con but the tookays are kept out side - as well as most of the bugs. (The geckos go under the sliding track). I have screens as well and they work the same as the windows in semi blocking critters.

One other point, I built my first floor a little over one meter off ground level which allows a crawl space for maintenance and has the vertical barrier effect on mosquitoes as mentioned above.

The downstairs being cool during the hottest weather is the biggest plus with the upstairs views a close second.

It's pretty obvious there are pros and cons to a second story but to me the pros come out way on top. An eclectic post but that's just how it is!

[Lizard2010]

It's cooler upstairs because you get more breeze.

We have aircon in some rooms downstairs but the main bedroom is upstairs and never needs more than a fan.

We have the windows open and rarely have a problem with mosquitoes, for some reason they don't normally fly more than a certain distance from the ground.

Strange but true.

Edit: This pic was taken the day we moved in, it's not quite that sparse now.

Nice One

[bifftastic]

Smear garlic on your ankles, they hate garlic. I dont need to smear it on , my blood is full of garlic, I very rarely get bitten.

Or spoken to, or sat next to?

I tried that 'eco-friendly' mozzie spray, didn't work on the mozzies, kept the Mrs away just fine though!

She says she misses me but I think she only wants me back so the mozzies don't bite her any more .

' meu mai mee farang, yung gin kon Thai!' is her lament, the poor woman

[ginooooo]

If you got the lot size a single story is great, especially for older folks who have problems with their bones (RA). We had 2 lots and decided to build on the smaller one with the main bedroom downstairs for my wife and I as it is on the same street as her family and also the same spot where she and other siblings were born. Due to her RA, those stairs are not safe for her to use now. However, the downstairs and upstairs do not get hot with the pastal paint, special curtains, and most important, a lot of the house has concrete with brick next to it to absorb the heat. Constuction this way keeps the heat factor inside down